How to Live as a Wandering Knight – Chapter 251

𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 (5)

Johan skillfully seized the anxious count.

While inwardly pondering how he could make use of this count.  

‘𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳.’

The opponent was now completely cowered. It was natural now that the emperor had collapsed and the enemy troops were emboldened before them.  

In this situation, bait was usually not enough to get them to step up.

“You’re no ordinary man handler!”

“. . .W-What?”

The count looked back in bewilderment. A swordsman he had never seen before was standing behind him.

“Wasn’t this person brought by the count?”

“No. . .how could I bring an armed escort into the tent without losing my mind?!”

“I know. You just bought time.”

With those words, Johan kicked over a chair. The chair flew away with the sound of breaking. The standing swordsman was startled and lowered his head to avoid it.

“Devious!”

“A trespasser has no right to say anything.”

While distracting the opponent by talking to the count, Johan already had a sword in his hand.

Although the perimeter was firmly established, Johan himself was not complacent, just as he had climbed the wall and snuck in. There were always people in the world who exceeded expectations. As Svetlg always said to be humble before the mysteries, it was taboo to be arrogant about what one did not know.

“Count, come over here. It would be troublesome if you die.”  

“I have no intention of touching him.”

Johan ignored the swordsman’s words. The count cautiously moved behind Johan.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘧?’

Karamaf was the one guarding the tent closest. With the instincts and sense of smell of a wolf, Karamaf did not easily allow any approach.

But to think it was penetrated like this.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴.’

When Johan did not answer, the swordsman made quite a bored expression.

“Can’t ignore me, Count Yeats.”

‘𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦.’

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here? If you ask, I’m willing to answer.”

“I see.”

When the opponent initiated a conversation by lowering his sword, Johan also lowered his sword. As the atmosphere flowed as if they were about to have a conversation, the count slightly relaxed his tension.

But at that moment, the two simultaneously raised their swords toward each other and brandished them.

“!”

At the lively exchange of swords, the count fainted unconscious. Even so, the two continued to coordinate and stab their swords at each other.

The opponent tried to avoid clashes and pierce in from the side. For a swordsman who knew he would not hold up if he crossed swords with a warrior with freakish strength like Johan, it was a possible swordsmanship.  

However, Johan was a man who could use swordsmanship other than orthodox swordsmanship. While quickly stepping forward, he widened the distance and blocked the opponent’s invasion.

A throwing knife flew through the air with a whooshing sound. It was not an attack to cut off his breath, but an attack to block Johann’s counterattack.

Johan ignored it and charged forward. At that crude counterattack, the opponent’s eyes shook for a moment.

“It’s poisoned, isn’t it?!”

Johan still did not answer. He did not feel the need to respond to words trying to shake him.

The moment they came close enough to cross swords, Johan’s freakish strength came into play. The opponent felt his arms and legs snapped as he was slammed to the ground.

‘𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘨𝘢𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘺!’

No matter how he tried to shake Johan’s arm with skills, his arm did not budge like an oak tree. Johan threw away the opponent’s sword by exerting more strength and strangled his neck.

“. . .End. . .me.” 

“If I make up my mind, I can kill you anytime, so why rush now. . .Master.”

“. . . . . .”

Kaegal made an awkward expression and threw away his disguise. The face of an old assassin was revealed under it. 

“Did you know from the beginning?”

“I noticed during the sword fight. I couldn’t have missed it because the skills were so similar.”

“You. . .” 

Kaegal looked at Johan with complicated eyes.

“You still lack a lot to become an assassin.”

Originally, the swordsmen who jumped into the assassin’s work were the kind of heartless guys who would kill their own parents for silver coins. That’s why Kaegal, who didn’t like that, went out of his way to find Johan and teach him skills. But now that he had saved his life thanks to that, his feelings were complicated.

It was the wrong attitude as an assassin. 

“Do I have to hear all that groaning when I just won? Winning is enough isn’t it?”

“Yeah. You did great.”

The lion cub he hadn’t seen for years had fully grown and was boasting its majesty. Just looking at his eyes, he exerted an overwhelming aura like a solid rock.

At that level, there was no need to stubbornly insist on assassination like a rat.

Johan called in a servant from outside to bring him something to drink. Looking outside, Karamaf was snoring, and the other guards didn’t even know Kaegal had come in.

“Don’t ask me how I did it. I taught you everything, the rest is experience and seniority.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to drink alcohol or something else.”

“. . .You’ve become even more unfortunate after getting the title!”

Kaegal was amazed. He used to be a bit shameless, but after getting the Count title he started to show his true colors.

“I’ve heard about you a few times. Things didn’t work out with your family.”

“It doesn’t bother me that much anymore.”

“Yeah. Just saying hello. Now that you’ve found a new lover and gotten a fiefdom, this should be enough to live well. Look at the other assassins. They risk their lives for a few silver coins and are worried about losing them.”

Kaegal was comfortably lying down while being served by the servant. It was a very unfamiliar and awkward experience to be treated by a successful disciple. He had never even imagined he would have such an experience in his life.

But he didn’t dislike it that much. Kaegal turned on his side again and said,

“I thought you might join the army of a noble family as a knight, marry the child of that family and continue the lineage. With your skills, you would have had no match around. But this is how it turned out. Isn’t this also the will of God?”

“Are you talking to me?”

“I was talking to you and ended up babbling to myself. Okay. I think I’ve heard enough about each other’s well-being. Do you know why I came here?”

“I’m not sure. Oh, if you need money. . .”

“Get your hands off the chest. . . Before I throw a dagger.”

Seeing Johan trying to take out a chest full of gold coins, Kaegal said coldly.

“I came to propose that we kill someone together. With my experience and your skills. . . wouldn’t any man in the world be unable to sleep soundly?”

“If you have an enemy, I can just lend you some soldiers. That would be better.”

Kaegal smiled pleasantly at Johan’s words, as if he had been waiting to hear them. 

“The opponent I’m talking about is not someone your soldiers can catch. Still, he’s the emperor of the Empire, so to speak.”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Originally, Kaegal did not like people of high rank. The higher the rank, the more he disliked them. He had been deceived by people of high rank in his youth and had narrowly escaped death several times.

On top of that, the emperor had shown a petty trick by gathering a number of assassins in one place and trying to choose the one with the best skills.

From the time he subdued and cut down the other assassins who attacked him, Kaegal’s desire to kill the emperor had been growing steadily in his heart.

“You were able to endure it well.”

“Even assassins have to endure when they have to. Do you know what kind of place that was?”

Kaegal could not even see the emperor’s face directly. He could only hear his voice from behind a curtain.

Next to him, heavily armed knights and crossbowmen were aiming at Kaegal and waiting. If he had moved a finger, he would have been turned into a hedgehog.

“I came out saying that I would try to kill the count in a loyal manner.”

“Which count?”

“. . .You! Who else could it be but you!”

“Oh. You mean me. You failed, didn’t you? That’s too bad.”

“I didn’t fail. I withdrew.”

“Well, if you say so. I understand.”

It was no good to talk for long with an opponent he could not defeat by force. Kaegal returned to the main subject.

“Nobles of high rank usually hire knights to kill someone, not pagans like me whose identities are unknown. It’s a matter of when something goes wrong. It could even be accused for nothing. That’s why I never thought I would have a relationship with the Empire’s emperor in my lifetime. . .”

“I understand. You want to kill the emperor.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“So you’re going to kill him now?”

Kaegal was somewhat moved by Johan’s straightforward answer. In his situation, it would not be surprising if he had said, ’𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦.’ But he answered without hesitation.

“If master says so, he must have a plan. This is an opportunity.”

Of course, Johan also had something to believe in. Since Kaegal was willing to go into the emperor’s palace, which even other assassins had given up on, it was clear that he already had a plan.

Johan was willing to pay any price if he could only take the emperor’s life. The emperor was the symbol that kept the feudal lords united in the face of all kinds of disadvantages.

If his breath stopped, they would really scatter.

“No. It’s impossible. I tried to go in once, but it was not ordinary. It was very tight.”

“. . . . . .”

“Stop insulting me with your eyes.”

“Cough. No, it’s not like that. I think there’s a misunderstanding.”

Kaegal clicked his tongue and pulled out a map from his pocket. It was a map of the camp that was drawn in quite detail.

“The emperor sets up his camp according to a predetermined protocol, whether he is moving or staying. You can see it as a kind of mobile palace. Do you see?”

“Yes.”

As expected of a descendant of an old family, the emperor’s camp was arranged very carefully.

’𝘏𝘮𝘮. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.’

Johan was also slightly impressed. He had learned fortification at Vynashchtym, but this camp layout was a different matter.

As you can see, it is quite thorough. From the soldiers to the knights, they are deployed in layers, and inside, dozens of tents are deployed so that you cannot tell what is real. It is also difficult to disguise or use magic. There are so many wizards in the camp that it is difficult to withstand. You couldn’t even get into the camp beyond the soldiers’ camp.”

“I see.”

“So I thought about how to shake this. As a result, I concluded that I needed soldiers.”

“If you are trying to use my soldiers as bait now, I will refuse.”

“Listen to the end. I’m not saying that we should charge at this strict camp with the soldiers.”

Kaegal pulled out another map. This time it looked like a map of a castle.

“Is that a castle?”

“It’s Gashstadt Castle. It’s a very sturdy castle.”

Johan knew more about Gashstadt Castle. 

It was one of the fiefdoms occupied by the emperor faction, known as the most difficult castle to conquer in the south.  

Thanks to that, the emperor faction was playing a central role as a foothold for their activities in the south.

“I’ve scouted this castle several times. It’s quite well-stocked with supplies and such. With a castle like this firmly holding the rear, no wonder the guys out here aren’t budging an inch. If some nimble soldiers secretly circled around and attacked this castle, it would throw them into chaos and get them moving.”

“I. . .I don’t even know where to start point out what’s wrong with that.”  

Johan was slightly flustered. 

Kaegal had lived his whole life as an assassin, not a commander. So there were some odd parts to his plan.

“Let’s say we pull out enough troops to sneak around without them noticing. That would be around a hundred. With that many troops, even if we attacked the castle, the castle wouldn’t flinch. And the enemies out here would know that much and stand firm.”

“. . .Then how about setting fire to the nearby towns and plundering any passersby?”

“Would they still not move for anything less? Of course some knight b*stards might come charging, but I’d think most would stand still.”

“. . . . . .”

“Don’t you have any other plans?”

“I thought a hundred would be enough to do anything. I guess that was asking too much.”

Karegal looked unusually crestfallen. Feeling sorry for his master, Johan tried to comfort Kaegal.

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